Jackals

Kevin Greutert, the editor behind Saw (2004) and later directed two entries of that particular franchise is back with a new horror. Immediately you think this would or could be the next Saw but it isn't.

It stands on it's own, no open ending at all. The story is simple, save your child from a cult only to be terrorised from that cult to get the son back. Is it that bad as some might say. Well, it takes a while before things go wrong, to be exactly 38 minutes before the terror comes in and that's almost half the flick (10 minutes credits). Once the cult is back the attacks shown aren't that bad done anyway. There are even a few gory shots here and there but for me there wasn't anything scary at all or the cult even didn't frighten me. They do wear masks but they are just standing there and some do attack and kill or being killed and that's it.

I found Don't Breathe (2017) more scary and a pure horror for example. here it's also about home invasion but somehow it didn't work out to make it creepy at all. Still, for those who like torture and brutality it's worth picking up to see the nastiness of the torture or killings.

Gore 1/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

A cult demands the return of their member after his family kidnaps him. My only problem is that about halfway through the family should have cut their losses. The returns diminish ridiculously after that. However, it is a given that people act stupidly in a horror movie. If you can't get behind that most fundamental of horror movie tropes then don't bother. And voila, we have the scenario where I can dig the hell out of this movie even with that big of a beef. I love the evil that flourishes throughout the cult, down to the kidnapped son. I love the high tension all the way through. I do hate the women, especially the young mother but I think the writer has a bias there.

It's difficult to make movies this terrible. This is one where you wonder how on earth this was made and does someone have pictures of Steven Dorff doing something very embarrassing? In short, the audience isn't told much about what is really going on because that would ruin any sense of understanding what is going on and why. There is a cult that wears masks when they want to feel scary and they are using knives to slice up people in an awkward "we're in a movie" sort of way. After an opening of senseless violence, you are taken to the cabin in the woods where you learn that a father has grabbed his son and his friend who apparently are now a part of a cult. Dorff plays the deprogrammer.

The acting is terrible. Dorff can't save the film and it's clear that they couldn't pay for him to be on screen very long. But not only is the acting terrible but the dialogue is laughably stilted and awkward. The longer it goes on the more you wonder why on earth you're watching because every character acts about as dumb as you'd expect in a bad B-horror movie.

And as was asked by the forgettable girl, why didn't this gang just break the windows and bull rush the cabin and kill all of them. Wouldn't be too difficult. But if they did, you would have all this scary imagery going on to prolong the movie for an interminable hour to create something that resembles The Void. "We must have all our cult people stand motionless in the dark with masks on to create a semblance of something scary that could only be explained by a movie director choreographing this charade." Even the scared family is trying to figure out what on earth the father is trying to do since even stupid people wouldn't act the way he is.

I actually haven't provided any spoilers. I'll just say that the movie deliberately doesn't provide you what you should know because it needs something to get you to watch until the end. Why? Who cares? This is not just bad. It's spectacularly bad.

I'm really sorry about Jackals but man what a letdown it turned out to be. I was hoping for something more like You're Next or The Void, but far from it. Typical The Strangers kind of movie, when you hope to see something good, some action, some natural decisions, instead, bore fest.

Can't believe it ended just like that, a conclusion that made the run time of the movie completely useless, with nothing to show whatsoever. Really little to offer and even less to make you feel about it, you get no sympathy for the characters, no desire to see what happens next, who's next, you're just in for the ride cause you pressed Play.

All in all, Jackals is definitely a No. Pass!

Cheers!

Just pure and simple lazy writing. Movie had potential but it was obviously rushed in hopes that the creators would just hope that the movie watchers don't have a brain. And just go eww ahhh scaryyy.. lame!